By TATSUO KANAI/ Staff Writer
June 19, 2023 at 18:14 JST
Mushrooms grow in the hollow of a tree and emit a green glow at night in Kobe on June 15. (Tatsuo Kanai)
KOBE--Bioluminescent mushrooms emit a faint green glow at night on Mount Rokkosan in Kobe’s Kita Ward, creating a surreal atmosphere.
The mushrooms, called Mycena lux-coeli, were spotted on the mountain after Lagerstroemia subcostata trees, which serve as their preferred habitat, are said to have been transplanted to the mountain.
They emerge during the humid rainy season.
The fungi are brown in daylight but glow a fluorescent green at night.
The mushrooms are small, measuring only a few centimeters in height. They emit light from a luminescent substance called luciferin, the same substance found in fireflies.
The mushrooms grow and wither repeatedly depending on the weather, according to the Kobe Municipal Forest Botanical Garden.
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